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Not quite the clean sweep the Dems hoped for but House of Reps has a LOT of power without needing to pass up to Senate.

Trump himself is really losing it, we know he lies all the time but the last 24 hours has been a big effort at fake bullshit even for him.

Whether he will be impeached, too early to say but he just became pretty ineffective, it only needs a few from his own party in senate to not vote the party line and he's stuffed, and Reps have crossed the line the past couple of years a number of times.

If he had any sense he'd take his bat and ball and go home before he winds up in a world of shit, but no one ever said he has any of that quality.

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Not quite the clean sweep the Dems hoped for but House of Reps has a LOT of power without needing to pass up to Senate.

Trump himself is really losing it, we know he lies all the time but the last 24 hours has been a big effort at fake bullshit even for him.

Whether he will be impeached, too early to say but he just became pretty ineffective, it only needs a few from his own party in senate to not vote the party line and he's stuffed, and Reps have crossed the line the past couple of years a number of times.

If he had any sense he'd take his bat and ball and go home before he winds up in a world of shit, but no one ever said he has any of that quality.

Cheers

impeachment?

it might happen, but it will never remove him from office — unless by some miracle. even allowing for the possibility of something relatively damning coming from Mueller, i still cant see a majority of the senate voting for a conviction.

whats more, its very possible that a futile impeachment proceeding would hurt the DNC more than not.

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Universe Sandbox 2. Every other time I've shot things at the solar system, it's slingshotted something or itself into deep space, or maybe impacted a planet, or stripped off the entire outer system. This time, I fired a copy of Sirius at us, fully expecting another chaotic whirlwind of gravitational dances. Closer... closer... Sol's starting to accelerate... Earth is cooling off a bit, since the sun has stretched the mean orbital distance out along the Z axis... here it comes... I'm stepping down the simulations speed as fast as I can so I can catch the action, and... *BOOM*! The two stars head-on, smack in the centre. The surprise? It doesn't make a new huge star - it makes a supernova! Everything inside the asteroid belt is vaporised; Jupiter and Saturn are left orbiting each other; everything else is drifting in space; and the whole lot is at the centre of a 5000C nebula.

Kinda wish I'd recorded that one now.

2

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At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare.

My Great-great-uncle from the Bombala NSW area: Private George Hammond (1885-1917) Australian Infantry Force 35th Battalion, was Killed in Action at Passchendaele Ridge, Belgium on 12 Oct 1917 aged 33 fighting with the Allies against the Germans on the Western Front in World War I.
Lest we forget.

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it might happen, but it will never remove him from office — unless by some miracle. even allowing for the possibility of something relatively damning coming from Mueller, i still cant see a majority of the senate voting for a conviction.

whats more, its very possible that a futile impeachment proceeding would hurt the DNC more than not.

That is true @th.

But even the President is not above the law and some of his purported offenses, which the reinvigorated investigation may reveal, are criminal, especially tax evasion which is treated very seriously there. They did catch Al Capone on it after all else failed.

A President faced with unequivocal evidence of criminality and called to trial would be quite enough to have the more nervous- Republicans desert his sinking ship if an impeachment were passed up from reps to senate.

The dems are probably more focused on that very possibility, they need something damning at the personal level to pin him, a vote of no-confidence would indeed be a waste of time.

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At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare.

My Great-great-uncle from the Bombala NSW area: Private George Hammond (1885-1917) Australian Infantry Force 35th Battalion, was Killed in Action at Passchendaele Ridge, Belgium on 12 Oct 1917 aged 33 fighting with the Allies against the Germans on the Western Front in World War I.
Lest we forget.

I get criticised for my feelings about Remembrance day but I have thought for a number of years that it is time to let it go.

i lost family whom I never met of course, I'm not THAT old, and had a grandfather who was lucky to survive it but it was not the war to end all wars at all, in fact it was the curtain raiser to a great many of the conflicts of the 20th century and onwards. WWII, which we remember in a completely different manner and with far less hurrah was a direct consequence of WWI, we remember Hiroshima Day, and so we should but the weapon unleashed then led directly to the insanity of the Cold War. Vietnam was in some part a consequence of WWI but in a more opaque manner, and many of the smaller surrogate wars of the century can in some measure be traced back to WWI.

Abandoning Remembrance Day will not change any of that but to Honor those who fought and lost their lives in what was really a pointless war that nonetheless advanced the means to wage war greatly made sense for a time but WWII should have shown how futile WWI was in the end but it didn't.

We would all be living rather different lives if WWI had been avoided.

I always reflect upon the lost lives, every year, but I don't buy poppies anymore, that in itself has very much outlived its usefulness, today's youth probably don't even know the significance of that symbol.

Just about all of the veterans are gone now, it is, in my view, time to let it go.

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It is what it is. There's no public holiday or disruption to the economy. It's done in a respectful way and it's an individuals choice whether to participate or not. And it doesn't take sides, it pays respects to all participants in prior wars. So really, no problem with it.

1

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It reminds us that the Anzac Spirit was forged in WWI, a consequence of Empire. Australia then became involved in pretty much the only war it had to be involved in - WWII, not much choice with Japan threatening our shores and taking places like Singapore that put them within striking distance of Australian shores, in fact they did bomb cities on the northern coast, making their intent quite clear.

But then Australia became involved in two further wars that it really had no reason to be involved in, Korea and Vietnam. The former because of a U.N. resolution that Australia was bound by, the latter through supporting an ally who also had no real reason to be there. Strangely the U.K. wanted no part of Vietnam even though it was and is an Ally of the U.S. Basically NATO aside from the U.S. itself had no part in Vietnam at all. A decadent, cynical war that only served to advance military technology and make lots of money for American arms manufacturers.

The Anzac day parade consists mostly of Vietnam veterans these days, including people still dealing with PSTD and other afflictions that the war visited upon them. As much as anything Anzac Day serves as a reminder of what global conflict has cost Australia, and continues to in stupid wars in the M.E. It is very, very different, but not seen that way by the population at large, it is by the vets in a lot of cases.

It will possibly fade, but not for a long time.

To be clear I have absolutely no expectation that 11/11 will be gotten rid of but I just don't see the point in remembering war very much after a decent interval especially if by some miracle Peace breaks out and we learn to live without war.

Cheers

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It is what it is. There's no public holiday or disruption to the economy. It's done in a respectful way and it's an individuals choice whether to participate or not. And it doesn't take sides, it pays respects to all participants in prior wars. So really, no problem with it.

This. ^^

Whatever age a person is today they are more likely to interact with a returned service person than not. Knowing one is interacting with a veteran is another thing ... unless it's a particular occasion and even then lots choose not to be obvious about their personal history.

Whatever your perception of wars, current or historic, they're happening all around us all the time. I doubt there is a time when war is not happening somewhere. And our inclusiveness with other countries means we have Aussies going off to war all the time.

Usually I'm at work for Armistice Day but not today, so we went to witness this area's tribute.

I am ohh so grateful for the lack of babies and whining children in attendance. So grateful. There were some kids (old enough to shut up ) and teens and others progressing in age from there ...

One bloke I spoke to afterwards said he preferred the Anzac ceremony cos it was too dark for his tears to be noticed. This from a Veteran in his late sixties.

I don't think people who reap the benefits of this country without having ' fought' for it should be making decisions as to whether a tribute is necessary for those who have enlisted or been conscripted in our defence forces.

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That depends where you are Nich, the pubs do rather well in England on the day. I stopped marching in England many years ago, the last time was when I wore my Grandfather's medals out of respect for him, it was the year he died and my grandmother asked me if I would wear them one last time for him, he always marched. Some peacenik in the pub after tried to call me out for not possibly being old enough. Reasoning didn't work, the escort to the door of the idiot by the innkeeper who was also a Vet- WWII, did. He poured me a pint on the house after and remarked it was a nice gesture for my Grandfather. Nonetheless I never marched there again.

I have only really marched here once on Anzac day on the insistence of a submariner mate, much alcohol was involved after but I agree with Ev, I've never fought for this country, I have for others, I did not really belong there.

Conscription doesn't really work much, just as an aside, some people will never make good warriors, they just become cannon fodder. It did at the time rather amuse me in a sad way, that Australia had a lottery to select servicemen for Vietnam. Very Australian but not exactly a good selection method.

Cheers

Edited November 11, 2018 by chrisgspelling

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RSLs and their sub branches , sub branches being those doing their best to exist without the use of licenced clubs called "RSL Clubs" ( like the one up here ), spend their time raising monies for returned service persons.
You know, those people afflicted with a variety of malaise that might require funds ( or the like ) not easily available to them. Yes RSLs do get some federal funding, but as our pollies expenses take first priority, the funding is always inadequate. ... so any way, the RSL dudes make good use of Anzac day donations to keep their work going. I think in this case the behaviour resultant from an Anzac day event could be excused some ... I mean wow no fun to be had at all seems a bit harsh. This is our nation. We are still here, relatively intact, it would be strange to not have some grandstanding / pride.

edit: it's a Sub branch up here, and a very involved group of people they be... with no hard liquor or pokies to obtain relief with . If you want a stubbie out of the domestic frig you pay for it. no wine even and bloody instant coffee or teabags to chose from. it's soooo
hard to attend those meetings ... as a social member I'm not social

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I see Remembrance Day as larger than just WW1. And unlike ANZAC day, it's not usually marked by excessive drinking, or weird nationalist chestbeating.

100% agree

remembrance day is noting the end of the "great war", and symbolic to me of the belief that that war would be the final conflict, having been so terrible that no such "global" war could conceivably occur again... ah well, nice idea

anzac day is a bizarre quasi-celebration of australian (and nz) troops doing well in a foreign field, before eventually having to retreat from a successful defence - a sort of baptism of fire for our armed forces

it has been hijacked into a jingoistic bogan excuse for a piss up and nationalistic fervour - commemorating what was ultimately a defeat, and somehow metamorphosing that into a national "celebration" (which it certainly gets sold as) is fucked up

given anzacs pre-dated the end of ww1, it would seem more appropriate to commemorate the waste that is war, honouring all the participants from whatever side who died or lost their innocence, rather than get all excited about a single failed campaign

aussie oi oi oi - our biggest memorial day is marking getting done by the turks, as cannon fodder on behalf of the empire in an unsuccessful attempt to create another front to distract the huns (and their mates) - that sadly says something rather perverse about what we feel proud for

the paradox of celebrating anything related to war is beyond comprehension, but getting puffed up for losing a campaign is really strange